Amadeus rocks high school

Foreign exchange student Amadeus Jesinghaus, of Munich, Germany, started his year at Redwood Valley High School last week. His first step: adjusting to small town life.

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Redwood Falls Gazette

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Posted Aug. 27, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Updated Aug 27, 2012 at 11:27 AM

Posted Aug. 27, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Updated Aug 27, 2012 at 11:27 AM

Amadeus Jesinghaus is not shy, and that should work in his favor as he begins his life away from home in Redwood Falls.

Jesinghaus is a foreign exchange student in the Redwood Area School District for the 2012-13 school year, and after one week of school he seems to be fitting in quite well.

Jesinghaus, who calls Munich, Germany home, arrived in the community Aug. 4 and is living with the Alan and Laura Olson family for the next several months as he learns what it means to be American.

The high school junior is familiar with the United States, though.

“I have been to the United States several times, because my mom has a business that has her flying here a lot,” said Jesinghaus, who said he has been everywhere from San Francisco to Miami over the years.

Jesinghaus can now add Minnesota to that list, and even though the community is much smaller than home, Jesinghaus said he is enjoying his stay so far.

“The Olsons have been wonderful,” he said, admitting small-town life does take adjustments.

Prior to arriving in Minnesota, Jesinghaus spent 10 days in Boston.

He spent those 10 days at a language camp improving on his English skills to better prepare himself for language immersion.

Jesinghaus said he has wanted to be an exchange student since he was about eight years old, and said he is having a good time.

As a student at RVHS, Jesinghaus is taking a variety of classes including Eng-lish 11, careers and leadership, video productions, computer ap-plications and government and economics. Jesinghaus said the credits he earns at RVHS are going to count for him as he continues in his own education. When he returns Jesinghaus is going to be attending an economics school, so the classes he takes locally are ones he thinks should help prepare him for that.

Beyond the classroom, Jesinghaus is a member of the Cardinal football team and is planning to play hockey. Unlike U.S. organized sports, Jesinghaus said the activities he was involved in back home were not connected to the school.

“They are private,” he explained, adding that means there is not real school spirit connected to sports like there is here.

The son of Rüdiger Jesinghaus and Fatos Jesinghaus said he played goalie on his hockey team in Ger-many and played quarterback for the club football team. An arm injury prevents him from playing that position anymore.

So far, Jesinghaus said school has been pretty easy and he said things are much more laid back here than they are in Germany.

Jesinghaus said he is looking forward to taking in outdoor activities, such as hunting and fishing while he is in Redwood Falls – something he said was not available in Munich.

Page 2 of 2 - He is also looking forward to improving his English, meeting a lot of people and seeing new places. He said he is going to be going to Hawaii sometime this year.

“I am open to doing different things while I am here,” he said, adding he is here to learn and to have some fun, too.